But there's a major obstacle for financial technology, or
fintech, companies that want to join forces with traditional
firms, and it's not about cultural differences.

"There's a lot of legacy technology at these big
institutions, and it's hard to integrate with their systems,"
said Jon Stein, CEO and founder of the
robo-adviser Betterment, in an interview with Business
Insider.

The other challenge that Stein highlighted when it comes to
partnering with big financial firms is the regulatory
environment.

"We are fully regulated as an investment adviser and a
broker dealer," he said. "Other companies have different
regulatory regimes."

As soon traditional companies partner with Betterment
and invest a percentage of their capital,
Betterment becomes subject to the same regulations as the
much larger firms.

It "really complicates things for partnerships," Stein
said.

At a recent conference organized by the Department of
Commerce, Stein and some 40 other fintech entrepreneurs
and folks from large financial
institutions discussed how to work
together on issues like regulatory constraints.

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker suggested at the event
that they combine forces and bring a handful of specific issues
to regulators in Washington.

"That is the thing that I'm most excited about,"
Stein said, "that idea that we are aligned in terms of what we
want for consumers and we can be part of that conversation
together."

The technological problem, however, will take a little more
time.

"You'd have to custom-build something for Company A and
Company B, so how do you partner with a bunch of firms?" Stein
said.